The United captain used to be an integral key figure in this fixture when it was a mixture of blood and guts, grace and guile and pure theatre.

When brawn and brawls were commonplace and as much a part of the box office banquet as the high calibre quality football when two of the biggest of big heavyweights went toe-to-toe scrapping for the elite prizes both home and abroad.

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But both Rooney and this one-time top of the bill clash are now a pale imitation of what they used to be.

Remember his jet-heeled part in Cristiano Ronaldo's Champions league goal at the Emirates in 2009?

Or when he put on the after burners in 2010 to keep up with Nani and then finish in 3-1 league match win for the Reds.

Big stage. Big player.

But when Rooney had to catch Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain in the first half he was left for dead and even a desperate lunging tackle missed. Then in a one-to-one chance to put United ahead versus Petr Cech the Arsenal keeper easily gobbled up the shot.

It was a dispiriting sight.

Like Cantona everyone has their shelf life.

Wayne Rooney watches his golden chance saved by Petr Cech

Rooney is highly unlikely to reappear in this fixture next season.

But will the match reappear as a game that will determine the outcome of silverware rather than a sixth against fifth encounter that had lost all its lustre and life?

Both sides will have to improve immeasurably for it to happen.

For United it must surely be Stockholm or bust if they are going to at least return to Champions League football next season.

After a reasonably bright start United looked like a side who have been brainwashed into believing it all hinges on that potential night in Sweden on May 24.

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Chances went begging again but once they had been breached by a Granit Xhaka strike that looped off Ander Herrera's back and beyond David de Gea in the 54 minute, the Reds were vulnerable and lacking in sufficient fight for a recovery.

Three minutes later and old boy Danny Welbeck made it 2-0 with a powerful header.

Rooney wasn't the only or worst offender as United tailed away but his performance seemed to sum up the Reds.

United's 25-match unbeaten run had never been the most glamorous. Some even called it the worst unbeaten record ever.